Aug. 15, 1963 - The Yankee fleet of super-subs was at it again today as Johnny Blanchard, playing right field for sore-handed Roger Maris, blasted a grand slam and a two-run homer; Phil Linz, playing short for sore-footed Tony Kubek, stroked three hits and dazzled with the glove; Hector Lopez banged a double plus two singles; Stan Williams, who starts every 10th day or so, fired a six-hitter at the Bosox — and it all added up to a 10-2 annihilation at Fenway. Thus did the Yanks rebound from yesterday’s doubleheader sweep to reestablish their bulge at 8½ games over idle Chicago. Blanchard always does well in Boston, in a long-ball way. “For a left-handed hitter, Boston has the toughest park in the league,” Johnny remarked. “In five years with the Yankees, I think I’ve only had six hits here — a tape-measure single and five home runs.” A tape-measure single? “It was when we were here one Sunday in June. It went 60 feet in the air and 60 feet from the plate. [Ed] Bressoud and [Earl] Wilson ran into each other. Wilson had to come out of the game, and it went for a single.” His only other grand slam was stroked at Fenway two years ago. Today, as Stan Williams took the mound in the bottom of the ninth, he had given just four hits — two in the sixth when Boston scored on Félix Mantilla’s pinch-single and Gary Geiger’s triple past Tom Tresh’s running lunge in left-center. Then, with two down in the ninth, Dick Stuart socked one onto the netting to give the 18,784 Red Sox fans at least one departing thrill. Stuart said he had been so sick to his stomach today that he doubted he’d be able to hit a ball out of the infield. “I felt like I’d been hit in the belly by Sonny Lindstrom,” he explained, making a Scandinavian out of our heavyweight champion. Today’s homer was Dick’s 30th of the season. “When I hit 35 in Pittsburgh two years ago, my best season, I got 13 in September, so I’m way ahead of that,” Stuart said. With the Red Sox 18½ games out of first place, Dick’s long-ball surge may be the only thing Boston fans will have to cheer for the rest of the season.
Comments